Wilkinsons on the Web glow-up

Wilkinsons on the Web has been languishing in a late-90s design - about which I was extremely proud at the time - for way too long. Around 2010, I thought perhaps one of my children would take up coding and refresh it for me. Alas, they are off doing PhDs in other fields.

So I let my new favorite child Claude take a shot at it.

Changes will be rolling out slowly, but it's really coming together well. And maybe now I'll get fewer request from people who want to buy my "old" website.

Wilkinsons on the Web, Re-Re-Reborn

 Thanks to a generous helping of AI, the Wilkinsons on the Web site is up, running, and (for now) spam free. And on the latest version of the webserver software, not something deprecated 10 years ago.

Now let's see what else Claude can do to enhance the site.

The return of Wilkinsons on the Web

The little website dedicated to the Wilkinson surname that I started in grad school when the web was relatively new ... is back again.

Apparently the registration system that I put in place the last time I looked at the site in detail (2014) broke at some point. And no one noticed, which is a bit disappointing.

In any case, the site is back. I've removed all of the old ad code (I never got anything from it and I hate ads on other sites), removed the login system for anyone by admins (me), deleted a ton of dead links, and added a few new ones.

Maybe this version will work for another 6 years without interruption.

Wilkinsons on the Web

Best of luck to one of my favorite Wilkinsons

From CNN: Gold medalist Laura Wilkinson attempts Olympic comeback after nearly a decade in retirement

Olympic diver Laura Wilkinson has always been one of my favorite Wilkinsons. When I first started running the Wilkinsons on the Web website in the 1990s on a computer on my desktop at Georgia Tech, her father would regularly send me updates of her successes. Few cheered as loudly as my household when she won gold in 2000.

Best of luck to Laura in her comeback. I look forward to cheering again.

The new Wilkinsons on the Web registration system

Wilkinsons on the Web now has a registered user system in place, based on registering on the site Bulletin Board. There are some advantages to being registered - like the ability to submit links to the interactive pages and the ability to flag links that are not relevant, inappropriate, or dead.And, of course, registered users are inherently more attractive.

If you see this icon, it means you can flag the link for admins to review.

If you see this icon, it means that someone else has already flagged this entry.

If you see this icon, it means that the link has just been submitted and has not yet been reviewed.

If you see any other color flags, you might want to check your monitor and/or eyes for hardware errors.

Your registration will not be used to send you spam or to loot your bank account. It's mainly a way to avoid the overwhelming botnet spam that crippled the site in the past. Honestly. Would a Wilkinson lie?

Wilkinsons on the Web reborn

The long neglected Wilkinson on the Web site is slowly undergoing a reconstruction and rebirth. New pages are going to start showing up soon - including the new, interactive Wilkinson Home Pages page that users can now add page links to themselves. Stay tuned.

Wilkinsons on the Web bulletin board is down

The spam on that message board has been out of hand for the last year at least. So much so that I stopped administering it, which was a bad decision on my part.

Today I received a message that the database had exceeded its proscribed limit of 2Gb ... by about 700%.  There was over 15Gb of text in that file, and there was no way I was going to be able to pick through and find the useful information.

So, at least for now, the message board is gone. I will try to work on restoring it at some point. Sorry about that, folks.

The Wilkinsons Message Board is active again

The Wilkinsons on the Web section of Wilkinsons.Com had, for a long time, a few dynamic pages where people could contribute links, information, and genealogical leads. That was several years and many ISPs ago, and those scripts stopped working at one point along the way. At that point, the site switched to a bulletin board system that was susequently hacked to pieces in a most disturbing way. For the last few years, there was no feedback system in place.

As of today, a new bulletin board system is in place, thanks to phpBB. It was relatively simple to set up and is supposedly more secure than the last version. Hopefully it will fulfill all of the site's users' needs. Please try it out, make a few posts, exercise the system, and let us know what you think.

Latest contribution to the Wilkinson Coats of Arms

The latest addition to the Wilkinson Coats of Arms page is "Unicorns with a Horizontal Stripe (Design IV)", submitted by Armando Framarini. It includes an explanation of the source from an 1865 Wilkinson genealogy study.

Norman Wilkinson -Razzle Dazzler

The latest addition to the Famous Wilkinsons page is Norman Wilkinson. Norman invented dazzle camouflage (also known as Razzle Dazzle by the Americans) for use in World War II. Ships were painted with crazy colors and lines to make it more difficult for the enemy to determine their distance and direction of travel. Fascinating!

Wilkinsons in Space

Clearing your palate from the last famous Wilkinson, may I present Dr. David T. Wilkinson, a Princeton professor and scientist, was one of the foremost experts on the Big Bang and resultant cosmic radiation. Click here for his NY Times obituary and be stunned.

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, launched by NASA in 2001, was named for him. It is currently orbiting outside of the moon's orbit and is collecting evidence from the Big Bang. Wow.

New additions to the Famous Wilkinsons list

Thanks to Paul Wilkinson, who pointed out the following missing famous Paul Wilkinsons. They're all on the Famous Wilkinsons page now.

• Paul Wilkinson (born 30 October 1964, Louth, Lincolnshire) is a retired English football striker currently working as the reserve team manager for Cardiff City (wiki)
• Paul Wilkinson is former Professor of International Relations and former Director of the University of St Andrews Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. He has become a familiar presence as a commentator in the mainstream British media in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S. (wiki).
• Paul Wilkinson is the author of "Construction Collaboration Technologies: the Extranet Evolution".

Wilkinsons per Million

An update to the Wilkinsons Genealogy page:

According to the World Names profiler, which uses publicly available telephone directories or national electoral registers, sourced for the period 2000-2005, the Wilkinson name is most popular in the UK with nearly 13,000 Wilkinsons per million (Wpm). [Wpm is my new favorite acronym and new favorite metric.]

Australia is second with just over 850 Wpm. New Zealand comes in third at 816 Wpm. The U.S. is fourth at 232 Wpm. Wilkinsons are most prevalent in the northern region of the UK, where there are a whopping 3402 Wpm.

The World Names profiler also reports that the most popular first names for Wilkinsons worldwide are (in order) Timothy, Wayne, Eric, Caroline, Amanda, Dennis, Harold, Darren, Claire, and Anne. [I'll have to take their word on that one, since I don't have any Wilkinsons in my family with any of those names.]

The latest addition to the Famous Wilkinsons page

I have added a new entry to the Famous Wilkinsons page at the tragically neglected Wilkinsons on the Web site. This could be the most famous Wilkinson yet.

More famous than General James Wilkinson, commander of the army under George Washington (and rumored to be a traitor by various contemporary scallywags)? Yes!

More famous than Laura Wilkinson, diver extraordinaire and star of the opening ceremonies in China (watch when the U.S. enters)? No doubt!

More famous than Tom Wilkinson, star of "Batman" and more other high-quality films than I can list here? Of course!

More famous than Nobel Prize winner Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson (Chemistry, 1973)? Way!

I am speaking, of course, of Kendra Wilkinson - reality show star, Playboy Playmate, and Hugh Hefner "girlfriend". Check out her impressive biography and be awed.

In all seriousness, she's gorgeous (as are all Wilkinsons) and has probably made more money in her short 20 years than I will make in all of mine. So, props to you, Kendra. Glad to have you in the family.

Kindergarten Class Postcard Request

My daughter's kindergarten class is attempting to collect postcards from all 50 states and as many countries as possible. I've asked folks that I know in several states and countries for help, but they could use a lot more postcards.

This is a real request, not a scam, and is only valid for this school year (2006/2007). If you could help out, it would be greatly appreciated.

Please send the postcards to:
Mrs. Albrecht's Kindergarten Class
Vanderlyn Elementary School
1877 Vanderlyn Drive
Dunwoody, GA 30338

Thank you in advance for all of your help. I'm sure the kids will be thrilled to get anything that you could send!

[Update 12/18] As of today, I have heard from folks sending postcards from Russia, China, Australia, Taiwan, Colorado, Oregon, California, Florida, and Alabama. However, more than one postcard from a country or state is ok, too! The goal is 100 postcards by the 100th day of school.

[Update 12/18 (2)] New responses from Japan, Washington, Virginia, Maryland, and DC!

[Update 12/19] I've mapped out the responses I've received so far. This doesn't mean that postcards have already been sent, just that folks from those areas have said that they will send one. If your area is covered, don't let that stop you!

[Update 12/20] More states and France added!

[Update 1/3] Peru and India added. Maps updated - but remember this only means that someone has said they're going to send a card, not that one has been received. If your area is blue, don't let that stop you!

A Different Scott Wilkinson from Raleigh

Just to be clear. The Scott Wilkinson from Raleigh in this article that's defending the child molester ... it's not me.

I'm an engineer, not a lawyer. Masochistic, not sadistic.

Slouching towards Facebook

One of my Wilkinson correspondents (from the Wilkinsons on the Web site) sent me an invitation to join Facebook. I've avoided it until now, but I decided to take the leap and am now officially an icky old married guy on Facebook.

Befriend me if you happen by.

Wilkinsons on the Web bulletin board

Finally, after over a year lying fallow, the Wilkinsons on the Web portion of this domain has been updated. The most important addition is a bulletin board to take the place of the non-working guestbook scripts for Genealogy, Announcements, and Contacts.

• The new Wilkinson Genealogy Requests and Comments board is now here.
• The new Wilkinson-Related Announcements board is now here.
• The new Wilkinson Comments and Missing Links board is now here.

Please enjoy the fancy new features.

• Wilkinson
• administration

Alice Wilkinson - Virtuoso

My aunt Alice, who is an amazingly talented pianist, recently send me a copy of her latest CD. I've posted it for all to see here, put a little low-quality MP3 from it here (buy the CD for a real version), and sprinkled references to it throughout the Wilkinsons on the Web site.

Certainly a very, very talented Wilkinson. Unfortunately she married into the family so I have no legitimate claim on hereditary virtuosity.

Filed in: family Wilkinson

Wilkinson Genealogy Database Update

Amazing the things you can get done during long meetings and much longer plane rides.

When the Wilkinsons Genealogical Database was originally built back in the 90s, there were over 30 different contributed databases from other researchers. The database eventually got too big for my primary server and was moved to another server that went out of business a year or two ago. So, I started over with a different format - only the relevant names and ancestors are on-line and the GEDCOMs with the complete detail are available for download.

Rather than immediately put the old information back up, I tried to contact the contributors. Not a one still has a valid email address. So, I'm slowly going through each contribution, cleaning out living references, putting in a pointer to the contributor name, and merging it on-line.

I've completed two so far. About 30 more to go. Head over the main database page to watch how it all comes out.

Filed in: Wilkinson administration